The Fear
by Mein Liebling
Summary: Alice Longbottom was afraid. She was afraid of many things- (Spiders, Muggle Aeroplanes, and Remus Lupin in scheming mode)- but there was one thing that could make her want to run all the way to the Yukon Territory in Canada. The Hospital Wing.


For the **Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Challenge/Competition **By the wonderful **Uni.**

And to be more correct, the **DADA Challenge **and the **Herbology Challenge.**

**Prompts: **

_Students are to write a story based on a duel; stories are to be no longer than 1000 words and no shorter than 500 words_

A character must hug another character.

_Alice Longbottom._

Dangerous.

**And**

Write a story where someone is caring for an ill person. You can take this in any way possible_. _

_Going to the Hospital Wing._

And the words "Bloody Hell".

_I just feel awful._

**_I don't own Harry Potter._**

* * *

"This stupid, idiotic, bloody little-"

"Alice…"

"Pompous, slimy, git-"

"Alice."

"No good, pratting, scullion-"

"Alice!"

The girl turned her absolutely evil looking brown eyes towards the boy, almost frothing at the mouth as she glared at him. "What_!?_"

The boy nearly quaked in his shoes but ended up squeaking out, "One, y-you were slipping into Shakespeare, and two- you added the wrong amount of billywings into the potion."

It was quiet for a few seconds, as the girl processed what was being said, before all the flush that filled her checks slipped away as she peered down into the cauldron with worry.

"Huh? Oh, bloody hell!"

The third year was known for messing up her potions, getting angry quite fast as she yelled profanity no thirteen year old should know, and almost always- (except on the blue moon)- making the Gryffindor/Ravenclaw class have to evacuate the classroom after yet another explosion.

"You added the wrong amount of Billywings. Then you also-"

The Gryffindor's cauldron started shaking, and Alice barely managed to yell out the now familiar- "DUCK OR RUN!"- signal, before the large pot sprouted out a nasty, thick blue slop that covered about half the class, Alice included.

"Ah, Miss Richards-" Slughorn threw up his hands in exasperation as he darted around the room, checking to see if anything else would blow up. "I'm afraid you're going to half to go to the hospital wing." _'I'm afraid I don't want something as__ dangerous as you in my classroom'_ was left unsaid.

Nearly all the anger, panic, and frustration drained once again from the girl's face. "T-T-The what?"

"The Hospital Wing! Now, you better hurry and get there, as there are only a few minutes before class starts."

Alice didn't hear the fat old man call out the homework over the chaos caused, and her face showed a look of pure terror if anyone would look at it directly.

"Come on Alice, I'll lead you there." Lily Evans showed up at the slop-covered girl's right, offering her a kind smile as she herself tried to clear away any goo stuck in her hair.

"But-"

Lily grabbed onto her sleeve and the duo left, Alice not even having time to grab her bag.

"I'm afraid of the Hospital Wing!" Alice suddenly blurted out, trying to wrench her sleeve out of the red-head's grip.

"What?"

"The Hospital wing! It's so creepy- the smell of potions, the evil old nurses that stuff revolting stuff down your throat-"

Now the girl rambled on and on as they drew closer to the wing, hoping to at least make Lily stop so she could get away.

"And the people always tell you the worst things! Mum took me to St. Mungos and-"

Lily calmly put her hand on Alice's shoulder, before pushing her inside the white-washed room. "It will be fine, Alice. You're sounding like it's the apocalypse!"

Alice stepped into the Hospital wing and told herself, "You can do this. You can do this."

She took another step-

And turned on her heel and tried to escape. "I CAN'T DO THIS!"

Lily shut the door quickly behind her, leaving Alice banging her fists on the door. And that was how Madame Pomfrey saw the girl when she heard the racket.

"I DON'T FEEL WELL, LET ME OUT!"

"What on earth!?"

Alice screamed as she saw the nurse, and could be heard yelling, "NONONONONONONO!" as far away as the Divination Teacher's tower.

"Come on now," Madame Pomfrey said soothingly. "Let's see what happened to you."

After a couple of calming droughts were shoved down the unwilling Gryffindor's throat, the nurse was happy to let go of the now calm girl and inspect what happened.

Boils had sprung up from the blue goo that had latched onto Alice's skin, and whenever someone touched them, they would either pop painfully- (As Alice had learned)- or moved around to another place.

Madame Pomfrey tutted. "Isn't there a protocol when in Potions? Students now just come immediately here if they have a splinter."

The woman gave Alice a few more potions to drink, and told her to stay for at least till dinner, before bustling off to deal with a transfigured Hufflepuff.

When Alice arrived back in the common room later in the day, Lily tightly hugged the girl and said, "Was that so hard?"

The girl blinked as she thought about it. "You know, it wasn't."

Duplicate smiles shone on the Third Year's faces'.

"Hey, Evans! I was kinda-"

"Sod off Potter."

And all was right in the world again.

* * *

"LONGBOTTOM!" Alice screeched, pushing her way through the crowd towards where Frank Longbottom and Slytherin fourth year Albert Princely were currently throwing spells at each other.

Frank grit his teeth, but didn't answer. The girl nearly wanted to throw her hands in the air and storm into the duel, but the _Protegos_ from the older students stopped her.

"LONGBOTTOM- YOU GET RIGHT BACK INTO THE LIBRARY THIS SECOND! I DON'T CARE ABOUT SOME STUPID LITTLE DUEL-" She glared when a Ravenclaw groaned at her to shut up. "GET YOUR ARSE BACK IN HERE THIS MOMENT OR YOU CAN COMPLETELY FORGET ABOUT THAT-"

"You do know that, that Slytherin was insulting you, right?"

Big brown eyes blinked as the girl stared at the boy in shock. "Uh, what?"

The boy- the same one who had told her about her cauldron (Oh how she hated her memory for making her forget his name!)- nodded wisely as he pointed to Frank.

"Uh huh. Frank must've heard and then he was challenging the Slytherin to a duel. Guess he really likes you enough to do that, huh?" The boy laughed quietly.

Alice blushed a little as she stared at Frank. "That's sweet... BUT FRANK LONGBOTTOM! IF YOU DON'T END THIS DUEL IN LESS THEN FIVE MINUTES THEN YOU CAN COMPLETELY FORGET ABOUT THAT HOGSMEADE WEEKEND!"

There was a simaltanious gasp from all those present, from both Alice's declaration, but from Frank overpowering the older wizard and forcing him to yield.

The girl looked up and down at the sweating and depleted Gryffindor, and gave a small smile. "You might want to at least take a shower before we go back to the Library, Frank."

Frank Longbottom looked like he was about to collapse.

"And how much jelly do you add to the Polyjuice Potion again?"

There was a collective sigh of amusement.

"Alice..."


End file.
